This disclosure relates to systems and methods for monitoring and managing remote devices. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods of remotely monitoring and managing remote diagnostic analyzers over a network.
Many diverse technologies require or benefit from the remote monitoring and/or management of deployed equipment, including telecommunications systems, media devices, security systems, defense equipment, medical devices, vending devices, and remote sensing devices. In particular, remote monitoring supports the remote reporting of error codes and fault conditions, which can alert an administrator to the need for maintenance, troubleshooting, and a loss of revenue-generating capabilities.
In addition to error code and fault condition reporting, remote management can provide a host of other applications, including the ability to remotely download status information, usage statistics, the results of operations and measurements, and also the ability to remotely upload firmware updates, new content, and configuration information.
The ability to form a connection across a network for remote management purposes is often prohibited by the existence of a firewall or complicated by the need to communicate across a local network. U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,239, issued to Hansen, describes a method of overcoming such problems by providing a system that facilitates communication through the exchange of messages between a remote apparatus (with an embedded communication device) and a server.
Specifically, the system disclosed by Hansen enables a direct information exchange between the apparatus and server, either by the exchange of email messages or HTTP commands. Unfortunately, such implementations require a direct messaging-type protocol for the exchange of information between the apparatus and the server. Such configurations are highly limiting in their overall architecture, and add complexity to the apparatus by requiring the presence of an email client of a session-based HTTP messaging client. Furthermore, the message container employed for encapsulating and transmitting data can lead to problems associated with high bandwidth requirements.